Audio Research is one of the oldest continually operating manufacturers in American audio. The company was founded in 1970 in Minneapolis with one goal in mind: to advance the state-of-the-art in music reproduction. Today, Audio Research remains a performance-oriented company by philosophy and design. New product introductions are driven only by genuine advances in technology and performance - the HIGH DEFINITION that is the hallmark of the company's products. The company has grown steadily over the last 40 years, with a network of top audio specialist retailers across North America and distributors throughout Europe, Asia and South America.

Almost since the inception of the brand, Audio Research has produced some of the finest components for music reproduction; this is especially true with regard to preamplifiers. In 1973, the SP3 was hailed as the best preamplifier available, and this tradition of excellence has continued ever since. The Reference Series from Audio Research was first introduced in 1995 and has been the ultimate representation of performance, musicality and power. The Reference 6 is the latest chapter of our story.

Audio Research introduced its first Reference series CD player in 2005 with the Reference CD7, then evolving into the Reference CD8 in 2008. Both players met with critical acclaim for their musicality and reproductive accuracy. People still want to play their CDs, but they also want to add other digital sources such as computer audio to their music systems, so we created the Reference CD9 CD Player/DAC. It combines the best of both, a super high-resolution compact disc player with a super high-resolution digital-to-analog converter that is stunning in its musicality.

Audio Research was proud to introduce the first two-chassis phono preamplifier in their history, the Reference Phono 10. This model number was designated because it mirrors its line-stage counterpart, the Reference 10, providing an unsurpassed level of performance in its category. The front panel has a 7” diagonal touch screen mounted asymmetrically, and only two buttons for power and mute. The interactive touch screen allows the user to change inputs (and input names), equalization, loading, gain, muting, foreground and background colors of the display, display intensity, and tube hours. Control functions are duplicated on the supplied metal remote. The front and side panels are 3/8” brushed and anodized aluminum, and the tops of both units are acrylic with a laser-cut perforation pattern (chosen for its sonic benefits).

Audio Research proudly introduces the G-series of vacuum-tube electronics, in homage to the great astronomer and scientist, Galileo Galilei.

As the world’s oldest continuous manufacturer of vacuum tube electronics, Audio Research builds upon its accumulated expertise gained over 44 years of high performance audio design and focuses it on a new series that provides superlative music reproduction. GS represents a new exploration into the past of Audio Research – a continuation of refining performance in a beautiful design aesthetic. Inspired by classic Audio Research components from the 1970’s, the new appearance is modern yet comfortingly familiar. Much as Audio Research has expanded the boundaries of what is possible in music reproduction, the GS series adds a visual refinement and elegance befitting the performance of this series.

A preamplifier, amplifier, phono stage, and digital to analog converter all in one chassis, the Audio Research new product GSi75 combines with your favorite speaker to deliver a singular and simple solution to control your listening system.Powered with the new KT150 output tube, the GSi75 supplies finesse and control that belies the 75-watt per channel power rating.

Unlike other integrated designs that make performance - sacrificing compromises to fulfill a price point or form factor, the Audio Research GSi75 harnesses the power and technologies developed by Audio Research into an authoritative platform to revealthe performances in your media.

In 2010 Audio Research announced the Reference Anniversary preamplifier, a special limited edition product commemorating their 40th anniversary. It was acclaimed by many as the finest preamplifier available and a fitting tribute to all of the classic Audio Research products that were introduced during the forty years that preceded it. Included in the Reference 10 are critically chosen new components, proprietary custom-made capacitors, wiring, and new connectors that cumulatively provide a level of performance never before achieved. Key Audio Research design traits remain: The signal path is fully discrete, all-tube, pure Class-A, with zero feedback. Other attributes and choices remain, too: Each unit is completely hand-soldered and hand-constructed in our Minnesota facility using the finest materials, with major components such as custom transformers, plated-through circuit boards, and casework sourced locally. All engineering is performed in-house.

Influenced by some of our classic groundbreaking SP preamplifiers, the SP20 takes visual cues from past Audio Research products while incorporating our latest designs and technologies. The SP20 is a full-function line stage which incorporates a phono preamplifier and, for the first time ever on an Audio Research preamp, there is a ¼" headphone jack. Front panel controls have been minimized to two rotary controls and an interactive touch screen display, along with power, mute and output selector buttons.

The compact disc is a format now more than 30 years old, with a catalog of hundreds of thousands of titles; simultaneously, digital downloading and computer music storage is skyrocketing in popularity. Combining a super high-resolution compact disc player and digital-to-analog converter in one compact chassis, the CD6 is a perfect fit for modern music playback. The CD6 is positioned to optimize most any digital format with spectacular results.
The CD6 offers disc playback via the Philips Pro2 transport (still considered the industry standard), plus four digital inputs (asynchronous USB, coaxial RCA and two toslink). All inputs handle 24 bit / 192k resolution.